Notes From Camden

Just a few pre-game notes here...

* Here is what Manny Acta said about today's batting order: "We're just trying to deepen our lineup a little more. Willie [Harris] is swinging the bat well, getting on base, and our offense is scuffling a little bit. So we're just trying to make our lineup deeper and have as many guys in front of [Ryan] Zimmerman and [Adam] Dunn as possible."

One fun fact about Zimmerman, the No. 4 hitter. He last batted fourth on Oct. 1, 2006, Frank Robinson's final game as manager. (That year, Zimmerman also batted leadoff 15 times.)

And get this -- until today, Manny Acta had included Zimmerman's name as a starter on the lineup card 339 times. Every time, Zimmerman batted third.

* Based on reports from Class AAA Syracuse, left-handed pitcher Scott Olsen, who will come off the DL to pitch tomorrow's game in Florida, has shown a semblance of that old velocity. "In almost every (rehab assignment) game he has hit 92 mph," Acta said.

When Olsen was up here the first time, his fastball was often lagging in the mid- and high-80s.

Olsen has already made four rehab starts, so he won't be kept on a strict pitch count. He's capable of going 95-100 pitches. Provided the Marlins' lineup allows him to.

* I'm not sure if anybody cares, and I admit some fault for not noticing this earlier, but the Former Smiley Gonzalez (known less infamously as Carlos Alvarez) is playing for the Nats' Dominican Summer League team, headquartered in Boca Chica. Alvarez is hitting .235 in 81 ABs. Remember, this is a guy who was listed among Baseball America's top 10 organization prospects -- back when BA and the rest of the world believed he was 19, not 23.

Maybe if they told him to quit cocking his leg on every pitch it would help too. It's too easy to disrupt his timing. He makes it harder than it is. Simple correction and he's back to waiting and pounding the ball up back up the middle for power.

Youre not gonna find a bigger Elijah Dukes fan going back to last season than me, but he is garbage. Our entire OF save for Dunn is trash and needs to be shipped out of here immediately. If nobody will take them, then DFA them, just get them off the field.

I agree that the outfield needs a total overhaul. Dukes looks to have been solved by the big league pitching. I think we have to give him a shot at snapping out of it though, simply because he is not the most glaring problem on our list of things-to-fix.

As for Dunn, he is a great bat, but I'm fairly sure he is unsustainable as a fielder. He simply is not good enough.

Of course the infield isn't that good either. We have the FOF, the world slowest shortstop, Alberto 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' Gonzalez and Mr. Bump.

Also, enough about Strasburg as the future ace of the staff... in case people haven't noticed, we already have a future ace. John Lannan is a beast, I know he doesn't have the prototypical stuff and/or K/BB ratio that you want out of your #1 starter, but his ERA speaks for itself. Dude is a stud, we need to make sure he finishes his career as a National.

Willie !!!!! okay, Manny, we have our CF squared away. Now its time to get RF figured out. I think we can do better than Dukes/Kearns. Both are painful to watch at the plate and defense, I would take Kearns.

JT2009: You my friend have got to be kidding, Kearns over Dukes? while i'm not happy with Dukes over the last three weeks he is still a better ballplayer than Kearns and their is clearly more to salvage in terms of an upside,if this team had a real big league manager i think Dukes would be having a better year. Austin Kearns has not tried or refuses to make any adjustments at the plate and is mired in season long slump he went almost two months without driving in a run!! Kearns needs a change of scenery i think that wouls go a long way in helping him salvage his career.